This verse is again alliterative in that three of its six Hebrew words begin with the letter resh.

In verse 35a overbearing means oppressive, domineering, tyrannical. In some languages it will be necessary to use a verb phrase for Good News Translation‘s “tyrant.” For example, one may say “a wicked man who terrified people” or “a wicked man who caused people to tremble.”

The Hebrew of verse 35b is obscure. New Jerusalem Bible translates “well-rooted like a robust native tree,” saying the translation is problematical; one version may be “flourishing like a tree luxuriant in its native soil”; New International Version “flourishing like a green tree in its native soil.”35-36 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the line can be interpreted as follows: “and rooted/ramifying like a native

The verb in verse 36a is in the third person singular form, “he passed”; the verb means “to go, go over, pass, pass by,” and it seems more fitting to follow the ancient versions and read (as do Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New English Bible, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) “I passed by.” The Masoretic text, however, is taken by New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Dahood to mean “he passed away” (that is, he died), which, while admittedly possible, is unusual. See verse 10 for a similar statement. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project takes the Masoretic text to have an impersonal sense, “someone passed by.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .